Multiple menus, none of which contain all the things I’m looking for. Vague nomenclature that means I have to click on five or six menu items to find the one simple (simple to me, anyway) thing I want. Hidden contact info. Web forms that allow me to accidentally cancel out after I’ve spent ten minutes entering information. Puzzling visuals that obscure the tools I need.
All of these are relentlessly common in digital interactions. Why is doing what I need on a website, or with a piece of software, more often than not a frustration instead of a pleasure?
The reason I am a digital UX designer is because I have been a digital product user for most of my life, and I’m tired of having to navigate through a sea of slop.
I am one person, and I can’t fix everything even if everyone would hire me; but at least I can analyze some of the things I think are the most horrible and offer my free advice on what could be done to make them better. Who knows? Maybe Jeff Bezos will notice.
The plan is to publish an occasional critique of something—a site, a piece of software, an ATM, whatever—that I use and want to see improved. I’m going to begin with the bane of my existence, Amazon Prime Video.